DENVER (KDVR) — A local workers union for a meat processing plant’s employees voted to strike after three months of negotiations, the organization announced Saturday.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 members from the Denver Processing plant, which is owned by JBS, unanimously voted to strike.

Workers at the plant process beef and pork that end up on major grocery store shelves throughout Colorado. The group of 200 cited the company’s continued unfair labor practices as the purpose for the strike. JBS and the union have been negotiating this latest contract since Sept. 10, 2022.

Vice President of UFCW International and President of UFCW Local 7 in Colorado and Wyoming Kim Cordova provided this statement:

Instead of negotiating in good faith on a fair contract for its workers, Denver Processing is conducting unfair labor practices by unilaterally changing workplace policies that have not been bargained on. These tactics, some of which are presently pending with the National Labor Relations Board, create a precarious and often dangerous workplace for these Essential Workers who risked their health and lives during the pandemic so that we could have meat on our tables.

Management at the Denver Processing plant and its JBS leadership need to stop unfair labor practices and come to the table with proposals for an industry-leading agreement that honors these workers. If they fail to do so, workers have told us loud and clear, they are prepared to walk out.

Kim Cordova

The union did not disclose when the strike would begin and this is not the first disagreement leading to a strike involving JBS workers and the Local 7 branch.